People can sometimes feel uncertain or uneasy in their lives but for those who frequently feel lost or empty, Dr. Shannon Simonelli said those feelings could be an emergency alarm. 

“It’s a wake-up call to let you know you’re in crisis,” she said. “A call that there’s more to you that’s wanting to come through, because you have more to give. You have more to offer to the world, to yourself, to the people in your life.”

 Simonelli is an imaginal creative arts therapist who has been in private practice since 2000, based in Holladay since 2012. Through the process of doing individual therapy with clients she developed a body-based group therapy for healing. 

Simonelli has always loved movement, she even performed with the University of Utah’s modern dance department. Creating a body-based therapy allowed her to combine her love of movement with her career as a therapist. She believes the body holds the key to uncovering new ways of living. 

“It’s about discovering who you are and developing a courage that’s an embodied sense of self,” she said. “The kinds of people that tend to be attracted to the work are people who are seekers. They’re curious, they want more.”

Using different types of modalities, including art, dance and movement-based therapies, Simonelli has witnessed her clients dive deep into their personal stories and find a soulful center that brings up more awareness and consciousness. 

That could mean identifying previously-suppressed traumas, or noticing patterns and beliefs that make them stay small. She said these things sit below the surface so clients aren’t usually aware of them, yet they are in the grips of those ideas that can cause pain and helplessness. 

Based on her experience and clinical expertise, Simonelli wrote a book to help people cultivate an authentic life through creative arts. “The Circulatio” explores art as therapy and guides readers to find genuine connection to life and community.

“It’s written for therapists and psychologists, but it’s also written for body-based workers like yoga teachers, dance teachers, people who are health coaches or medical workers, like nurses,” she said. “There’s an application for creative people, because it’s a creative modality. There’s also a strong nature-based influence to the work. We pay attention to the moon cycles. We pay attention to nature. We pay attention to what season we’re in and how we feel in this season.”

Simonelli’s book is an accumulation of knowledge she’s gathered through more than 20 years of work. She systematically interviewed 10 people, taking a qualitative approach to find vignettes and themes across their experiences. She’s found movement is a way to focus on what’s happening in the body and allow those memories or feelings to rise up. 

“Sometimes the movement is with music, and it’s active and lively, and kind of shakes you out of the stress of your day,” she said. “Then there are other ways of moving that tend to be slower and more focused towards what’s arising in the body.”

“The Circulatio” will be released on June 16 and will be available on her website at shannonsimonelli.com.